finally finished my first game

[minipol]

Hi,

yesterday i finally finished (and won) my first game. I am usually in the habit of quiting a game when i see i am the strongest but this time i finished it. I heard the victory scene isn't much and damn right it wasn't :-)
I didn't play long enough to build sphereworlds :-(

Since i don't have much time to play Online, i'm thinking of trying the TDM mod since the ai is reported to be quite good. Any other recommendations for making a tougher (more exciting )game?

What type of galaxy / size is recommended for playing against the ai?
Is starting with a fully researched tech tree interesting?
I do already play with limited resources since it seems more realistic to me. Storage facilities tend to be more important this way.

Last tech i researched in that won game was a basehip. What purpose does it server? Is this the kind of ship you need for the sphere worlds?

Thanks and sorry for the rambling :-)